BEIJING, Apr 27: The Chinese coast guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, according to Beijing's state media, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other regional countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis.
China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is currently taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the United States that Beijing has slammed as destabilising.
The Chinese coast guard "implemented maritime control" over the Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, during the middle of April, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday.
The tiny sandbank, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Thitu Island, also called Pag-asa and the site of a Philippine military facility.
CCTV said the coast guard landed on Sandy Cay to "exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction" over the reef, carry out an "inspection" and "collect video evidence regarding the illegal activities of the Philippine side".
The broadcaster published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water.
Another shot showed four coast guard officials posing with a national flag on the reef's white surface, in what CCTV described as a "vow of sovereignty".
The group also "cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef", the broadcaster said.
Meanwhile, missiles fired off the coast of the northern Philippines Sunday as US and Filipino forces conducted their first integrated defence drills, hours after China said it had seized control of a reef claimed by Manila.
As many as 17,000 personnel are participating in the annual "Balikatan" exercises, which this year will simulate a "full-scale battle scenario" as the treaty allies seek to deter China's ambitions in the disputed waterway.
In coastal Zambales province, hours north of the capital Manila, AFP journalists watched Sunday as the US Marine Corp's new MADIS short-range air defence system knocked a pair of drones from the sky.
The coastal defence exercise saw MADIS work in concert with the Philippines' SPYDER missile system, defending it from drone attack as it targeted simulated incoming cruise missiles.
"MADIS is short-range. SPYDER is more of a medium-range capability (and they) both engaged different threats," said Matthew Sladek, commander of the US 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion. �"AFP
